JOANN FITZPATRICK: Don't write off Greenbush train service

JoAnn Fitzpatrick

Saturday

Jan 27, 2018 at 12:01 AM

Every time I see a Greenbush train passing through Quincy en route to or from Boston it makes me smile. Sometimes I wave, even if no one will notice.

I was an editorial page editor at this newspaper during the course of the years-long, grueling campaign to restore the Greenbush Line. While the newspaper’s backing was not the major reason the trains are running today, I believe the project could not have succeeded without the unwavering support of the Ledger.

The newspaper took a look back at a decade of the trains’ service a couple weeks ago, with a headline that said despite support Greenbush “falls short of promise.”

I am sure that phrase caused glee among opponents of commuter rail on the South Shore but it’s beside the point. A major endeavor like the Greenbush project cannot be judged wanting after a mere 10 years. Large-scale infrastructure projects like this are investments in a long-term future. That is one reason they cost so much money.

It is a timely coincidence that Greenbush rail is being assessed as Amazon considers a possible move to Boston, bringing 50,000 high-paying jobs. While Boston has many assets to attract the online retail behemoth, this area is plagued by 20th Century transportation that’s both inadequate and unreliable. And while apartment buildings are changing the face of Boston neighborhoods, there is little place left to build beyond what’s on the drawing board.

Amazon aside, Boston will continue to grow because of the caliber of its workforce and established preeminence in technology, medicine and other scientific fields. In the years since Greenbush returned to service, Quincy and towns on the South Shore have seen substantial growth in large housing complexes and more are on the way, sited close to commuter rail stops in Scituate and Weymouth Landing. And the granddaddy of all South Shore developments at the former South Weymouth Naval Air Station is far from being built out. Transforming that military property into a residential area has been a long slog. Remember the proposal for a giant mall? Had that not been shot down, it would now be just another relic of a shopping/recreational experience that no longer draws customers.

More than 2,000 people reside at what is now known as Union Point and thousands more are likely to come. A big part of the attraction is easy access to a train ride into Boston. Union Point is on the Old Colony line, which resumed service 20 years ago.

Critics complain that daily passenger numbers – 2,900 at last official count in 2014 – are below what Greenbush planners projected, which was 4,200. But those riding the rails talk of increasingly crowded cars during rush hours. And what happened this month when commuter ferries from Hingham were shut down because of dock damage in foul weather? More commuters hopped onto the trains.

Prominent Greenbush opponents argued the ferries were a cleaner, cheaper, better choice than rail. But the ferries were never a realistic choice for most commuters living near the Greenbush line. Commuting by water is a very good option for a lucky minority but is only one facet of a 21st Century transportation network.

As for the argument that Greenbush has not taken thousands of cars off Route 3, as long as two-car families become three-car families and drivers choose to travel alone, our highways will be snarled.

The best way to evaluate the restoration of commuter rail is to consider what life would be like without it. It’s good for commuters, good for the environment and good for growth.

That is also true of the much-maligned Big Dig. Greater Boston in the new millennium, and Massachusetts as a whole, would not be one of America’s most desirable destinations for work and play if the harbor had not been cleaned up and the elevated roadway torn down.

Greenbush is an example of the forward-looking investment that improves people’s lives. We need more of that, not less.

JoAnn Fitzpatrick is the former editorial page editor of The Patriot Ledger. She may be reached at joannftzptrck@yahoo.com.